NASCAR Cup Series

Penske Racing announced today that AutoZone will join the organization as an associate sponsor for the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Carl Edwards heads into this weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway looking to become only the third driver to sweep both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in a season since the track started running two races a year in 2005 (Kevin Harvick in 2006 and Jimmie Johnson in 2008). Edwards talked with Ford Racing about heading back to the desert as the 2013 season winds down.

Michael Annett and the No. 43 Pilot Travel Centers team will be heading west for the last time of the season this weekend. The team continues to improve on their already strong short-track program as they head to Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway for the second to last race of the season.

Aric Almirola looks to end the 2013 season with momentum from the last two races. Heading to Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway this weekend, his goal is to score a solid finish in the No. 43 Smithfield Ford as the team competes with a different tire from when they raced here in the spring.

Marcos Ambrose returns to the West Coast for the final short track race of the 2013 season at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway. Ambrose hopes to contend for the win in the No. 9 DEWALT Ford and cap off the short track races on a high note.

Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 @CATMining Chevrolet, will make his 1,000th-career NASCAR start when the Sprint Cup Series heads to Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2013.

Phoenix International Raceway may be 2,000 miles from his house in North Carolina, but the racetrack in the desert feels like home to David Gilliland. The driver of the No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford is a west coast native and spent several years racing the one-mile oval in Avondale, Ariz., earlier in his racing career.

If he could, Josh Wise would push the fast-forward button on the aging of the track surface at Phoenix International Raceway. The driver of the No. 35 MDS Transport Ford enjoys tracks with the character that comes with aging, and he is eager for that process to happen on the recently repaved one-mile oval.

Phoenix International Raceway might only be a one-mile track, but David Ragan considers it more of a speedway than a short track these days, and that's how he and his No. 34 team will approach it for this weekend's Sprint Cup Series race.

As the race for the six shooters and black cowboy hat moved from afternoon into evening, here is what was surprising and not surprising...